the name
and address appended to the advertisement which had so interested Anna.

How disturbed she was when she found that nought was left save the
simple wants of the young girl.

"Let's see," and taking the mutilated sheet, Dr. Richards read the
"Wanted, by a young unfortunate married woman."

"That unfortunate may mean a great deal more than you imagine," he said.

"Yes, but she distinctly says married. Don't you see, and I had really
some idea of writing to her."

"I'm sorry I was so careless, but there are a thousand unfortunate women
who would gladly be your maid, little sister. I'll send you out a score,
if you say so," and John laughed.

"Has anything of importance occurred in this slow old town?" he
inquired, after Anna had become reconciled to her loss. "Are the people
as odd as usual?"

"Yes, more so," Miss Eudora thought, "and more presuming," whereupon she
rehearsed the annoyances to which they had been subjected from their
changed circumstances, dwelling at length upon Mrs. Roe's tea drinking,
and the insult offered by inviting them, when she knew there would be no
one present with whom they associated.

"You forget Mrs. Johnson," interposed Anna. "We would be glad to know
her better than we do, she is so refined and cultivated in all her
tastes, while Alice is the sweetest girl I ever knew. By the way,
brother, they have come here since you left, consequently you have a
rare pleasure in store, the forming their acquaintance."

"Whose, the old or the young lady's?" John asked.

"Both," was Anna's reply. "The mother is very youthful in her
appearance. Why, she scarcely looks older than I, and I, you know, am
thirty-two."

As if fearful lest her own age should come next under consideration,
Miss Eudora hastened to say:

"Yes, Mrs. Johnson does look very young, and Alice seems like a child.
Such beautiful hair as she has. It used to be a bright yellow, or
golden, but now it has a darker, richer shade, while her eyes are the
softest, handsomest blue."

Alice Johnson was evidently a favorite, and this stamped her somebody,
so John began to ask who the Johnsons were.

Mrs. Richards seemed disposed to answer, which she did as follows:

"Mrs. Johnson used to live in Boston, and her husband was grandson of
old Governor Johnson."

"Ah, yes," and John began to laugh. "I see now what gives Miss Alice's
hair that peculiar shade, and her eyes that heavenly blue; but go on,
mother, and give her fig